Khar says Islamabad will support an Afghan-led reconciliation process.

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Wednesday told the National Assembly that Pakistan was committed to pursuing a constructive, sustained and result-oriented process of engagement with India, including on the issue of Kashmir.

In a written reply to a question raised by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Parvez Malik, Khar said that Pakistan continues to support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process.

“We are also actively engaged in various trilateral and quadrilateral forums exploring ways to bring peace, stability and development in Afghanistan,” she wrote. “As peace and security must be underpinned with economic development, Pakistan has pledged an amount of $330 million for carrying out development and reconstruction work in Afghanistan.”

Regarding the Nato air raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in Mohmand Agency, she said: “In the wake of the recent Nato attacks on our border posts, an envoys’ conference was convened on the directives of the prime minister to reassess our foreign policy.”

The recommendations of the conference will be presented before parliament for further deliberation.

“The envoys’ conference reaffirmed that Pakistan’s external relations continue to be based on the principles of respect for sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity in accordance with international law as enshrined in the UN charter,” asserted Khar.

Responding to a question regarding female ambassadors of Pakistan, she said that out of 87 of Pakistan’s missions abroad (ambassador/high commissioner level), 10 were currently being headed by females.

Meanwhile, Railways Minister Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour told the lower house that because of torrential rains and unprecedented floods in 2010, railways’ infrastructure was significantly damaged and the total value of asset damage was estimated at Rs6.4 billion. During the 2011 floods in Sindh, he said, it had suffered a loss of Rs247 million.

Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim told the house that urea fertiliser was not exported during 2010, whereas 600,460 metric tons of urea was imported during 2011.

@ashok sai:
Kashmir is a disputed territory according to UN resolutions. thats why it demands dialog between the two countries. Baluchistan is internal issue of Pakistan. keep urself out of it. or allow Pakistan to step into the independence movements in many states of India.

@ashok sai: There are no UN resolutions for Balochistan. Balochies following indian agenda are not more than 10%. A large number of pashtuns are also living in Balochistan since centuries and they love Pakistan more than any one in this world. I hope only few ppl think like you in India.

Well, if there isn’t any UN resolution
regarding Baouchistan yet, then it
shall happen soon. The freedom
struggle of the poeple of Balouchistan
can no longer be suppressed &
demands international attention.

Let’s start discussing when the Pakistani army is going to withdraw from Azad Kashmir so we can hold the plebiscite. Please retrieve the territory ceded to China. Who is Pakistan to cede territory not its own? Balochistan is not an internal issue. Just as Kashmir is not. Just as Bangladesh was not!

Pakistan needs to be careful as to what it wishes for. You might just get it.

Concerned about Balochistan, last time I read there are about 17 independence movements in India. Seriously you guys love to live in your indian-cuckoo-land where all is so well and there is peace and harmony everywhere. Seriously ‘LAUGH OUT LOUD!’

@ashok sai:
There is no state crackdown on Balochistan nor there is army of 700,000 “protecting” citizens. Kashmir is muslim majority state and it should have ceded to Pakistan in 47 if your terrorist occupying wouldn’t have jumped in.

Bottomline is Kashmiris don’t want to be part of India any whatsoever conditions. Why dont you do a free and fair plebiscite according to UN resolution

So the matter of fact is, you guys hardly worth a dialogue! Still we Pakistanis are trying our best, hope you guys take that seriously which is only possible when you get ready to face realities and actually get to know your limits, moreover you realize your resonsibilities, that might lead the end of those independent movements facing India. Recommend

@Raakbas:
you bharatis never cease to amaze me. Withdraw from Azad Kashmir? Do you see anyone their revolting against the state’s persecution of local people? Do you see any single guy demanding freedom? so cut it.

Hu Jintao : In which world are you in. Read Mengal interview whether there is state violence in Baluchistan or not. Whether Kashmir would have ceded to Pakistan or not is not the issue because by Pak’s own action (tribal invasion), Maharaja Harisingh signed the accession of Kashmir to India. It is an open and shut case. As somebody has already said there are many terrorist mobs in India, Disoriented Kashmiris are one of them. We know how to fix it. But not in your way.

Is Kashmir a disputed territory? Yes, it is. The GOI also acknowledges it and says it is willing to talk to Pakistan on Kashmir. Otherwise it has no reason to do so. Plebicite based on UN resolutions? Pretty much unlikely for two reasons. 1) This non binding resolution also requires Pakistan to move all its army and ‘outsiders’ from its part of Kashmir as the first prerequisite. 2) The Shimla Agreement after the 1971 war clearly states that both countries will ‘resolve’ their disputes bilaterally. This is Pakistan’s official stand and there is no provision for any UN involvement.

@Vasan: But the instrument of accession which Mahraja signed with india was conditional & the condition was india will impose it’s defense, forgien affairs, currency only & when normalcy will return to kashmir, right for self determination will be gives to us(remember Nehru’s famous sermon at lal chowk srinagar). But india did nothing such, as it had promised. Also instrument of accession has been declared fake now. UN along with other countries of the world doesn’t recognise kashmir as part of india but as disputed territory. Noted historians of the world like Alistar Lamb, staenly wolpert & thousands of other kashmiri historians have proved that instrument of accession was never signed, as it defies logic, since a same person can’t be at two different places thousands of miles far from eachother, at the same time (google more about it). India neither showed instrument of accession documents to UN nor to pakistan. Lol: in 1995, india even said it lost accession documents. So what accession accession are you crying?

@Raja: Rofl: read more about Shimla agreement, it explicitly protects the “status & position” of both the countries regarding any dispute. i.e it protects pakistani position to determine solution of kashmir by UN resolutions. Hence it doesn’t alter the involvement of UN in kashmir.. :)

@omar, Can you as a pakistani step into Indian kashmir without a visa from India ? .You cant and still you want to talk about Indian kashmir..Similary Indians will talk about Balochistan even though Indians cant enter balochistan without a visa from pakistan. IF you are advocating hands off approach it should work with the above logic as always..

UN has washed its hands off the Kashmir issue ( according to Kofi Annan’s statements). The UN mandate requires that pakistan should remove all its forces in the area of kashmir in its control and this includes the portion of kashmir you ‘gifted’ to the chinese

Just as strongly you feel that this is a UN issue, India too strongly feels that you illegally occupied part of Kashmir in 1948

After one of the countless wars pakistan initiated, pakistan signed a peace agreement with India that it will solve kashmir issue bi-laterally

India probably provides ‘only moral and diplomatic support to the freedom fighters of baluchistan’ ( couldn’t help throwing back one of your pakistan’s official statements since the late 80′s !!)

@Hu Jintao:
Sir, agree with your views. Unlike Pakistan occupied Kashmir, Indian Kashmir is a given a special status and only Kashmiris are the permanent residents whereas no outsider is allowed to purchase any land/property or reside in the state. Moreover, govt elected by people of Kashmir in fair and free elections is governing the state and presently our Kashmir is more peaceful than any part of Pakistan. Thanks and regards. R S Johar India.

Suhail Geelani :
“the condition was india will impose it’s defense, forgien affairs, currency only & when normalcy will return to kashmir, right for self determination will be gives to us”
To be more precise, Lord Mountbatten was the party who accepted and replied to the Instrument of Accession. It clearly states, “the reference will be given to the people of Kashmir for their state’s accession, once the land is cleared of the invaders”
Now u get the point which many commentators including myself have posted all along
which are, get Pak out of Gilgit and Northern areas. get back the land from China and then we can talk about “reference to the people”. Pak in the meantime have changed demography of the POK and formenting trouble in Indian side of Kashmir. These affairs which Pak is not able to roll back, make the “reference” almost impossible. Given the current situation, converting LOC into International border is the best option with visa free regime for kashmiris on both sides. The special status of Kashmir is still kept in Indian constitution under Article 356. India will be willing to settle along these lines. Anything else does not wash anywhere. Nobody in the world will support/accept any decision which does not meet Indian point of view.
Regarding your point of non existence of Instrument of Accession, it does not merit discussion .Recommend

@Vasan: liked your analysis, but the fact is that UN RESOLUTION doesn’t require all pakistani forces to be withdrawn first….. But only tribals need to be withdrawn first, followed by simulatenous withdrawl of both indian and pakistan regular forces. Read UN resolutions yourself. Since there are no tribals in kashmir, & land is cleared of invaders so condition for plebiscite are good.
However it isn’t pakistan which is changing the demography of kashmir, but it is india itself… I’m myself from IoK & i was reading a recently released book of political department professor of kashmir university in which he showed that in IOK the demography of the state has been altered. It is been observed that after every census which india carries out here after 10 years “POPULATION OF MUSLIMS IS SHOWN TO BE DECREASED BY 2% AND POPULATION OF HINDUS TO BE INCREASED BY ALMOST THE SAME MARGIN”. “INDIAN OCCUPIED KASHMIR IS THE ONLY PLACE IN EARTH WHERE MUSLIM POPULATION IS DECREASING”.
Btw it was india which also recently tried to pass slum dwellers bill to alter the demography of kashmir, but it was resisted by we kashmiris.

@Sadia:
If Baloch leaders reach out to India for help, we will not remain silent spectators. This is a human rights issue and is not dependent on any UN resolution. Just like we liberated Bangladesh when the pot of cruelty boiled over, the same rule will apply for Balochistan.

@Shah:
You know very well that non-Kashmiris are not allowed to buy land in Kashmir. Thank India for maintaining this special status otherwise Kashmiri people would have become a super minority a long time ago.

The reality about Kashmir is even after hundred years the situation will be the same as it is now. It is foolish to think that through incitements and terrorism if thousands of Kashmiris and Indians can be killed the situation in Kashmir will tilt in Pakistan’s favour. What has been achieved by Mumbai massacar of innocent hindus and muslims ? Nothing accept the leaders of the groups are getting large size of their picture printed in Express Tribune. And in USA and Europe innocent Pakistanis are daily abused, harassed, insulted and Islam getting branded as cult of hatered instead of religion of peace. Muslim women cannot were hijab, mosque cannot have minaret so on so…

Shah : Variety of reasons for muslim population might have, might have decreased. Many of them might have gone over to training camps/POK. Possibly many died. Many might have migrated to different parts of the world or diff countries. Hindu population might have increased because of Jammu effect which is relatively peaceful. As one commentator put it. other Indians cant settle in Kashmir. So it is impossible to change demography artificially but only by natural causes. And your own stmt that Kashmir is the only place where muslim population has decreased defies logic and speaks volumes about muslims.Recommend